Era of Upheaval - Of Legends and Heroes

Norris 'Chuck' Shadowgleam

Bio

Norris Shadowgleam, better known in the business by his nickname of Chuck, started his life a street urchin in Esmeltaran, in the land of Amn. Forced to live off whatever he could scavenge by the unexpected death of his parents in a storm on Lake Esmel, Norris quickly turned to stealing, activity for which he showed remarkable talent. He quickly moved from grabbing the occasional loaf of bread off the shelves of Esmeltaran market to pickpocketing and onward to relieving the town’s rich and influential citizens of a significant part of their worldly possessions.

His growing reputation in the underworld drew the attentions of the Shadow Thieves, which quickly recruited him. He spent a couple of years among them, leaving eventually because ‘the guild was keeping him down’ (in reality he left because he grew uncomfortable with several questionable actions of the guild). During his time with the shadow thieves he realized the power and versatility inherent to magic and that a thief without access to it would be severely outclassed in many circumstances so, as practical person, he began to study it.

Norris kept working on his own, making a reputation for himself as a retriever of esoteric and hard to get items, traveling across the Realms, both to find ‘employment opportunities’ as well as evade the wrath of his many victims. As the magical means employed to find him and bring him to justice (or vengeance) grew in potency, coupled with nearly being eaten by a pack of hungry Wraiths while stealing a magical orb from a Red Wizard on behalf of one of his rivals led Norris to fully appreciate the advantages provided by some of the more esoteric creature types, like Constructs or Undead. His search to become a Necropolitan led him in contact with the church of Shar for the first time, a god he had worshiped for no other reason than the Wall of the Faithless (the goddess of secrets and darkness would be amendable toward somebody doing secret stuff in darkness he hoped).

During one hit he had been hired to do against the Shadovar, Norris failed to bypass a Prismatic Spray trap and managed to get himself sent to the Shadow Plane. There, he played an endless game of hide and seek with the inhabitants for the better part of two years, extremely grateful to his undead body for requiring neither sleep no sustenance, looking for a way back to the Prime Material. As it absorbed the essence of the Shadow Plane, his body began to transform until it finally gave him the power to travel between the planes, among other things he found great and extremely useful.

Shortly after his return to Toril, he got contacted by a group within the clergy of Shar calling themselves the Dark Sun, who apparently were trying to keep dangerous knowledge and artifacts (which they believed should stay hidden for the good of the world) off the hands of various individuals. Realizing his sudden disappearance off the face of the land two years before, coupled with his altered body, that made him almost unrecognizable, had thrown all but the most relentless victims off his trail and craving the security of not being always on his own and on the run, he decided to take them up on their offer, at least for a while.
Together with another Dark Sun member, Normand Chase, joined a band of wandering adventurers, hoping to use this guise to freely travel through the Realms, keeping eyes and ears out for anything interesting for the Dark Suns.

Norris never forgot where he started and to this day he still has a soft spot for the poor and the disfavored, generously sharing his material benefits with them whenever he has the chance. He is also a firm supporter of individual freedom (as if anyone could actually restrain him) and supports giving people the opportunity to stand on their own feet and make a name for themselves.
Also, as he often calls himself ‘a thief, not a killer’ he is reluctant to kill innocents and, if somehow caught in the act, he’d rather escape and come back later than kill an innocent guard doing his duty.